Portraits explore impact of bullying on adult life

Carol Stewart is one of the subjects of the exhibition and reflects on her childhood experiences of racism

The impact of bullying in childhood on adult life is the subject of a new exhibition.

A series of nine new portraits, titled We Carry It With Us, has been captured by Sheffield-based photographer Jeremy Abrahams, with each of the subjects returning to a setting from their childhood.

The display at Weston Park Museum has been produced with the support of charity Welcoming Cultures.

Mr Abrahams said the project aimed to show how negative experiences during childhood were something "people take with them, whether positively or negatively".

Mr Abrahams captured a self-portrait as part of the project and wrote on the image about how he faced antisemitism whilst attending Trinity Academy in Edinburgh.

"When I was 12, I had to walk down this school corridor and out into the playground every day," he wrote.

"A gang of boys would chase me and chant 'Jew Boy'."

Mr Abrahams said it had a major impact on how he felt about himself, which did not dissipate until he took the picture 53 years later.

Jeremy Abrahams' self-portrait includes text about his memories of antisemitism

Carol Stewart, a woman's leadership coach and columnist for the Sheffield Telegraph, is one of the participants.

She was photographed in the playground of Hunter's Bar Junior School, which she attended growing up.

"I was the only black girl among my white friends," are her own words written on the image.

She said as a child she went through the phase of playing a game where she was chosen to be the servant.

"When I protested, we took a vote, which I lost,

"But it gave rise to my passion for social justice and equality," she said.

Positive impact

Mr Abrahams said he had been inspired by the research of Professor Ellen Walser de Lara, from Syracuse University in New York, and her book Bullying Scars.

She found that almost half of the people who experienced childhood bullying reported that it actually had a positive impact.

"It didn't exactly do me a lot of good - but at the same time it did," Mr Abrahams said.

"It made me who I am, it gave me a strong sense of empathy for others, and it made me want to make sure that other people weren't treated the same as me.

"So, I thought there must be people like that around me that I can find to photograph, where I can set out this kind of double-edged sword."

He said he had found male participants in the project were "more reluctant" to talk about negative experiences from their childhood.

"We could change that by being more open about it and showing that it's okay to be open about it."

The exhibition will be on display for free at Weston Park Museum until 23 February.

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